Have you ever thought that a breathing technique could be so powerful that it will help you overcome negativity, stress, and depression within minutes? Well, there certainly is, and many yoga teaching schools have been using this detoxification technique for mind purification along with other yoga cleansing routines.

This extensive breath cleansing exercise is called ‘Kapalbhati’ and has gained a lot of popularity in recent years.

Kapalbhati, when performed correctly, can be a remarkable distressing tool that will help clear the mind of all the budding negative emotions. In Sanskrit, the word ‘Kapal’ means skull and the word ‘Bhati’ refers to polishing. So the literal meaning of Kapalbhati in Sanskrit would be polishing the skull of all the toxins.

Who Should Avoid Doing Kapalbhati?

Anyone who is suffering from cardiac problems, breathing disorders, nasal obstruction, severe cold or any other kind of respiratory infection should avoid doing Kapalbhati. Patients who have diabetes, blood pressure and abdominal ulcers should consult their physician before doing this exercise.

How To Do Kapalbhati Pranayama?

Although this breath cleaning exercise is incredibly simple, performing it properly needs a little bit of practice.

• Begin by sitting in a comfortable position with your spine erect.

• You can either sit crossed legged or the way you feel most comfortable

• Inhalation will remain passive and automatic, so you do not have to focus on it

The air should be exhaled completely from the lungs. The exhalation should be sudden and vigorous as you will be drawing your abdominal muscles inward simultaneously. As mentioned, inhaling will remain automatic. A beginner should perform this exercise in three rounds of 11 strokes each.

Each round of Kapalbhati will not take more than a minute, and you can even take little rest between the rounds as per your convenience.Through the asana, make sure your chest is kept still with contraction or expansion. Use your diaphragm for breathing and not your chest.

Once you get used to it, you can gradually increase the number of strokes to up to 30. The heat that you will generate while performing Kapalbhati will have a positive impact on your respiratory system and will also purify your nasal passage. If you have Asthma then performing Kapalbhati can help in removing spasm from bronchial tubes.

Benefits of Kapalbhati

Performing Kapalbhati on a daily basis can have the following health benefits:

• It works wonders for your mind and can make you feel distressed with a sense of calmness prevailing in during the process.

• Kapalbhati helps in clearing the mind of negative thoughts, and its regular practice can increase your awareness.

• Kapalbhati has many physical benefits as well. Like stimulation of digestive organs and improvement in the circulatory system.

• Kapalbhati increase s the exchange of gases in lungs and respiratory system. It promotes large scale exhaling of carbon dioxide and absorption of oxygen.

If you want to clear your mind of negative emotions, then perform this technique regularly twice a day and experience purification like never before.

Caution: Kapalbhati should be done on an empty stomach or after 2 hours of eating.